Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch left the band in 2005 after becoming a born-again Christian and overcoming his drug addiction. While he rejoined Korn in May 2013, Welch admitted he was initially nervous about performing with his old bandmates.

“It seemed so far away, so buried in my past. But when I came back it was like, ‘This is a part of me. A part of my life.’ Like, now I’m supposed to be here,” Welch said. “I remember what I loved, (and) that is performing the songs live for the fans, for all of us to be a crazy ball of energy. Some of the songs bring up the darker times like my drug addiction... but all of the bigger hits, those are all fine.”

Welch even said his cravings for drugs and alcohol have completely gone away.

“I have no cravings at all,” Welch said. “Back in 2005, when I had the spiritual encounter, the spirit of Christ came around me and took that away. I don’t have that anymore. I have no problems. I hang out, watch bands. We’ll barbecue this summer. It’s going to be an awesome, pretty clean fun party every day.”

Reuniting with Korn and creating new material after getting clean was easy, he added.

“The first two or three times I was there for a period of a few songs. We wrote songs but they never made it on an album; it was like warm up songs,” he said. “But more than that, we hit it off as friends. We were laughing and hanging out and rapping it up like old times, like old friends. It came pretty quickly. Everything fell into place.”

Now Welch and his Bakersfield bandmates of Korn will join one of 18 bands at Rockstar Mayhem Festival on at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore.

With acts from rock veterans Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, death metal’s Cannibal Corpse and metalcore’s Miss May I, the touring festival, sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink, appears to be a musical smorgasbord of sorts for metalheads.

“This time around it’s a little more diverse. Hopefully that ends up meaning more people at the shows. Not that the first time it wasn’t great. It’s just it can be even bigger,” said Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster, whose legendary death metal band has been around since 1988 and performed the festival in 2009. “The first time for us we had headliners Marilyn Manson and Slayer. This time it’s Korn and Avenged Sevenfold. It has more mainstream appeal... There could be fans who don’t see underground metal (like Cannibal Corpse).”

Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, who co-founded the Mayhem Festival with John Reese, said there was some crossover between Mayhem and Warped Tour as Ohio-based metalcore act Miss May I, Suicide Silence from Riverside and English metalcore band Asking Alexandria were on that tour previously.

“Those bands have built large audiences. If they want to go back and forth to a different crowd they can,” Lyman said, adding that Mayhem tends to attract an older crowd compared to Warped Tour.

Cannibal Corpse, known for songs like “Meat Hook Sodomy” and “Stripped, Raped and Strangled” among many others, has had Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole criticize them for “mindless violence and loveless sex” . The band has even had their albums banned in Germany and Australia.

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But Webster said the complaints have actually helped the band gain more popularity, with none of the controversies slowing them down.

“People seeing complaints as a negative are people who wouldn’t be interested in us in the first place,” Webster said. “If it’s a news story about our band being controversial, if someone is a fan of extreme music it ends up being more of an advertisement. It’s not going to put them off. If they’re into the heavy and extreme side of music, they won’t follow the advice of someone from the mainstream press who doesn’t understand this music at all. They’ll follow their own advice.”

About the Author

Wes covers culture and entertainment for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Sun and the Redlands Daily Facts. Reach the author at wes.woods@langnews.com
or follow Wes on Twitter: @JournoWes.